Michael Gerson: Liberalism's shrinking agenda

8:04 AM,
Nov. 1, 2012

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SIG: MICHAEL GERSON

In its heyday - say, the 1960s - American liberalism had an obvious identity. It was ambitious, reformist and frankly moral in its appeal to a common good that included minorities and the poor. It was praised as idealistic and attacked as utopian. Robert Kennedy set out "to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world." William F. Buckley, with some justification, criticized liberals for attempting to "immanentize the eschaton."

A few days after assuming the presidency, Lyndon Johnson was warned not to waste his energy on lost causes, however worthy. According to ...